Launch Telemetry

"Why does the 360 sell so terribly in Japan? It's not a hardware issue. The machine performs admirably, and Xbox Live works just as well in Japan as it does elsewhere. It's not advertising, either. Microsoft aggressively made its presence known months before release, just like everywhere else. Their ads are all over Japanese cities, encouraging gamers to 'step in.'"But they can't, and this is why."

"My friend Jon and I found an urban campout in our Wii line, where campfires and s'mores were replaced with laptops and alcohol. I was impressed at how Nintendo's new machine had garnered this much support. The whole ideology surrounding the console was a tad contrived: 'While the code-name Revolution expressed our direction, Wii represents the answer. Wii will break down that wall that separates video game players from everyone else.'"However, looking at the line, no one looked like they were on the other side of Nintendo's wall ..."Dan Dormer reports from out in the cold, waiting in line for a Wii.

"Some call the PS3 launch 'disastrous,' but even with the body count to date, it's not a genuine disaster - yet. Sales are sluggish, but a genuinely terrible product launch scorches the earth, annihilating hope of recovery. This hasn't happened to the PS3 - yet. In contrast to past launch disasters - the Ford Edsel, the Susan B. Anthony dollar - the PS3, as a product, has earned from neutral parties a measure of respect, if not enthusiasm. The New York Times called the console 'over-engineered,' not the worst insult imaginable."

"The year was 1976, and the first console war had begun. Like learning that our parents also had sex (once), the idea that console wars of the past were just as bloody, just as lopsided and just as meaningless is lost on most gamers. As is the one lesson learned by the losers (and winners) of each and every console war, from Atari vs. Intellivision to PlayStation 3 vs. Xbox 360: It's the games, stupid."

"Sure, millions of people bought the Xbox and the GameCube and no doubt spent a good deal of time playing the many games available on each. But a significant portion of these players spent just as much time on the internet, decrying the fact their system wasn't the most popular. The injustice! It's in our nature to want our personal choices validated by popular culture; to be afraid of picking wrong and somehow being on the losing side of a popularity contest."

Kyle Orland reports from the front lines of the war of the mind - the psychological front of the current console war.